Free Ebook Library Hugger Mugger: A Spenser Novel Cd's 6 1/2 hoursRead by Joe MantegnaSpenser is back and embroiled in a deceptively dangerous and multi-layered case: someone has been killing racehorses at stables across the south, and the Boston P.I. travels to Georgia to protect the two-year old destined to become the next Secretariat.When Spenser is approached by Walter Clive, president of the Three Fillies Stables, to find out who is threatening his horse Hugger Mugger, he can hardly say no: he's been doing pro bono work for so long his cupboards are just about bare. Disregarding the resentment of the local Georgia law enforcement, Spenser takes the case. Though Clive has hired a separate security firm, he wants someone with Spenser's experience to supervise the operation. Despite the veneer of civility, Spenser encounters tensions beneath the surface southern gentility. The case takes an even more deadly turn when the attacker claims a human victim, and Spenser must revise his impressions of the Three Fillies organization- and watch his own back as well. Audio CD Publisher: Random House Audio; Unabridged edition (April 4, 2000) Language: English ISBN-10: 0553456733 ISBN-13: 978-0553456738 Product Dimensions: 4.9 x 1 x 5.6 inches Shipping Weight: 9.3 ounces Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars 158 customer reviews Best Sellers Rank: #2,745,458 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #47 in Books > Books on CD > Authors, A-Z > ( P ) > Parker, Robert B. #4651 in Books > Books on CD > General #4826 in Books > Books on CD > Mystery & Thrillers Why is somebody shooting Walter Clive's horses at Three Fillies Stables in Lamarr, Georgia? That's what toothy, patrician Walter wants the droll, hulking Boston detective Spenser to find out. Walter worries that his racetrack phenomenon Hugger Mugger, worth millions, is next. So Spenser goes south to a place where "the heat felt like it could be cut into squares and used to build a wall," as he puts it in the crisp Chandleresque lingo that made him famous in dozens of novels. The Clive clan is one weird bunch. Take Walter's daughters, his three "fillies." Penny is like her dad, all impeccable looks and icy efficiency. Stonie and SueSue take after their sinister mom, who left the family to live with a guitarist in San Francisco and changed her name to Sherry Lark. Penny helps Dad run the business, while her soused sisters cheat on their pathetic husbands, Cord and Pud. (Pud's short for Puddle; his dad was named Poole.) As unsightly family secrets spill, Spenser feels like he's in a Tennessee Williams play. Then someone on two legs takes a bullet, and the mystery gets tense. Spenser gets plenty of sarcastic mileage out of upper-class horse-country twits, crooked security guards, dumb jocks gone to seed, and wily Southern lawyers, and the story saunters well. What's best are the endless wisecracks, the unflattering thumbnail character sketches, and sharp sentences like this one: "Like all jockeys, he was about the size of a ham sandwich, except for his hands, which appeared to be those of a stonemason." --Tim Appelo --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. Despite frequent appearances by Susan Silverman (longtime love of Boston PI Spenser) and the absence of Hawk (his enigmatic sidekick), the latest entry in Parker's estimable series is a worthy one. Missing is the sap that can stickie-up scenes between Spenser and Susan, and in Hawk's place strides a new sidekick, Tedy Sapp, who's gay and as tough as they come. Tedy's only a temp replacement, though, because the reason he's here and Hawk's not is that most of the action takes place in rural Georgia, where Tedy owns a gay bar. Spenser travels there on his own temp job--to find out who's been shooting horses at Three Fillies Stables, owned by Walter Clive, the most powerful man in the county, and to keep that someone from shooting Clive's prize thoroughbred, Hugger Mugger. Spenser roots through the highly dysfunctional family of Clive's three daughters and their husbands (one a pedophile, one a drunk), annoys Clive's security men and befriends both Tedy and the local sheriff, with whom the PI discusses doughnuts. When Clive is shot dead, Spenser is fired by the alpha daughter, only to be rehired by Clive's mistress, who believes there's more to the mayhem than horseplay. This novel offers more traditional mystery elements than many Spenser tales, although most readers will finger the prime villain way before Spenser does. The pacing is strong, the characters are fresh as dew and the prose is Parker-perfect. The Spenser-specific personal drama that drives the best of the tales is lacking, but overall, the story will fit Parker fans like an old shoe. (Apr.) FYI: Parker's most recent novel, Family Honor, will be filmed starring Helen Hunt. Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. I had skipped this book in the Spenser canon somehow, and now that I’ve read it, I wish I’d read it sooner. It’s as if Parker longed to return to the early days of Spenser, and wrote a throwback. He sheds  for the largest part  most of the formulaic earmarks of the series readers have come to expect at this point  i.e. Boston, because this one is set in rural Georgia, and Hawk, who is in France with a woman. There is a phone conversation with the most interesting character in the series, Vinnie, and with Captain Martin Quirk, for nostalgia’s sake, but overall this is more like the early books in the series.The vain and annoying Susan Silverman is still around, of course  just to make Spenser appear like a love-sick wuss, apparently  but it’s easy to glide over the couple's snobbish banter  lustful and otherwise  and just enjoy the refreshing Georgia setting and an array of interesting characters. The most interesting of them is Penny, who Spenser  and the reader  initially find adorable. So much so, that I heaved a wistful sigh that this wasn't an early entry in the series, because like Linda in Valediction, she is, at least at first, a breath of fresh air, and it was certainly no mistake that Parker wrote her that way. Even the ending is refreshing in this one, with a conclusion more Ross Macdonald in nature than Parker, as if he is doing some vague homage to him.In essence, though this is about Georgia horse country, and horse racing, it is more about a Georgia family of immense wealth and social standing which is as damaged and dysfunctional as it is powerful  Ross Macdonald territory. There is even an enjoyable and unexpected detour when Spenser is booted off the Georgia case and returns to Boston. What transpires back on familiar turf again harkens back to the early Spensers. Also woven into the fabric of the narrative is a nice trip to San Francisco to question an aging flower-power child. It turns out to be more important to the story than we’d thought.Parker creates great atmosphere in this one, and in tune with the setting, makes the pace more languid than usual. This serves to give Parker room to write a story a bit more nuanced than many of the later formulaic entries. I can definitely see fans of the series being divided on this one, but I enjoyed it a lot. I'm probably giving this one an extra star, just because Parker changed the setting, returned a bit to early days, and because of Penny.Hugger Mugger begins with Spenser hired to find out who is shooting at race horses, and for a while, this one appears to come up lame. If you stay with it, however, it makes a quick move along the inside rail during the final furlong, and by a nose becomes one of the better entries in the series. This book possesses one of the most original plots, and certainly most original structure, of any of this world famous series. Our man Spenser is hired by the very wealthy Clive Family to protect the interest of a horse (of all things) - admittedly, a horse bound for superstardom and mega wealth for its owners - after failed assassination attempts at other horses on the same property brought the existence of a lunatic to the attention of everyone in town. This book will stand out, too, because for once, it is not set in Beautiful, Downtown Boston. Spenser heads south to Georgia, without the majority of his friends and associates. Hawk is in France on personal business, Susan is busy educating and analysing the lucky few back home who come across her. Captain Quirk is busy running the Boston Police Force and Vinnie and his associates are all busy being busy.So our Spenser is forced to make new friends.